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Cited by 58Memory and Neural MechanismsMemory Processes and InfluencesNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Contextual fear conditioning differs for infant, adolescent, and adult rats

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Esmorís-Arranz, Francisco J., Méndez, Cástor, Spear, Norman E.·2008·Behavioural Processes
DOI 10.1016/j.beproc.2008.01.010PMC PMC2737416
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Abstract

Contextual fear conditioning was tested in infant, adolescent, and adult rats in terms of Pavlovian-conditioned suppression. When a discrete auditory-conditioned stimulus (CS) was paired with footshock (unconditioned stimulus, US) within the largely olfactory context, infants and adolescents conditioned to the context with substantial effectiveness, but adult rats did not. When unpaired presentations of the CS and US occurred within the context, contextual fear conditioning was strong for adults, weak for infants, but about as strong for adolescents as when pairings of CS and US occurred in the context. Nonreinforced presentations of either the CS or context markedly reduced contextual fear conditioning in infants, but, in adolescents, CS extinction had no effect on contextual fear conditioning, although context extinction significantly reduced it. Neither CS extinction nor context extinction affected responding to the CS-context compound in infants, suggesting striking discrimination between the compound and its components. Female adolescents showed the same lack of effect of component extinction on response to the compound as infants, but CS extinction reduced responding to the compound in adolescent males, a sex difference seen also in adults. Theoretical implications are discussed for the development of perceptual-cognitive processing and hippocampus role.

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  • Adolescents have been reported to show either stronger or weaker aversive fear conditioning to the training context than adults, depending on the study.

    “adolescents have been varyingly reported to exhibit either stronger (Brasser & N. Spear, 2005; Esmoris et al, 2008; see also Barrett et al, 1984) or weaker (Pattwell et al, 2011) aversive (fear) conditioning to the training context than adults”

    From Rewards, aversions and affect in adolescence: emerging convergences across laboratory animal and human data (2011) · cites this paper as Esmoris et al, 2008

  • In classical conditioning, adolescents have been reported to show either stronger or weaker aversive fear conditioning to the training context than adults.

    “adolescents have been varyingly reported to exhibit either stronger (Brasser & N. Spear, 2005; Esmoris et al, 2008; see also Barrett et al, 1984) or weaker (Pattwell et al, 2011) aversive (fear) conditioning to the training context than adults”

    From Rewards, aversions and affect in adolescence: emerging convergences across laboratory animal and human data (2011) · cites this paper as Esmoris et al, 2008

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Kraebel KS, Spear NE. Infant rats are more likely than adolescents to orient differentially to amodal (intensity-based) features of single-element and compound stimuli. Developmental Psychobiology. 2000;36:49–66. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Spear NE. Memory storage factors in infantile amnesia. In: Bower G, editor. The psychology of learning and motivation. Vol. 13. New York: Academic Press; 1979. pp. 91–154. [Google Scholar]
  3. Spear NE, Kucharski D. Ontogenetic differences in the processing of multi-element stimuli: Potentiation and overshadowing. In: Roitblatt H, Bever T, Terrace H, editors. Animal cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum; 1984. pp. 545–567. [Google Scholar]

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Authors
Esmorís-Arranz, F. J., Méndez, C., & Spear, N. E.
Affiliations
  • Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (ES)
  • Binghamton University (US)
Corresponding author
Esmorís-Arranz, Francisco J.
ORCID
Esmorís-Arranz, Francisco J.
Venue
Behavioural Processes
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-07
Volume
78
Issue
3
Pages
340-350
ISSN
0376-6357 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.beproc.2008.01.010
PMC
PMC2737416
OpenAlex
W2058273719
Cited by
58
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 3
FWCI
1.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Behavioural Processes (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Hispana (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Repositorio institucional da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (University of Santiago de Compostela) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA011960, R01AA015992, R01AA013098)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R37MH035219, 5 R37 MH35219, R01MH035219)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
contextual fear conditioning, developmental differences, infant rats, adolescent rats, adult rats, auditory conditioned stimulus, footshock, extinction, sex differences, hippocampus
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aging, Animals, Association Learning, Auditory Perception, Cognition, Conditioning, Classical, Discrimination Learning, Electroshock, Extinction, Psychological, Fear, Female, Hippocampus, Humans, Infant, Male, Mental Recall, Reinforcement, Psychology, Sex Characteristics, Reflex, Startle, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats

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